XRL_IsaacLab

Framework for training ground based and submersible autonomous systems using Explainable Reinforcement Learning (XRL) using IsaacLab.

Setup: Isaacsim Default Assets

The isaaaclab documentation pulls the majority of its terrain and robot assets from the default assets stored on NVIDIA's Nucleus server. However, the Nucleus server is being deprectaed and will no longer be supported come October, 2025. The easiest solution will be to download the assets and save them locally. The nucleus server called in the prim_path is then just replaced by the local path. See below for further instructions or visit the Isaacsim 4.5 installation tips page (https://docs.isaacsim.omniverse.nvidia.com/4.5.0/installation/install_faq.html#isaac-sim-setup-assets-content-pack) - see the Assets tab.

1. Download the 3 asset packs that correspond to your version of isaacsim from the following link (currently using isaacsim 4.5): https://docs.isaacsim.omniverse.nvidia.com/4.5.0/installation/download.html#isaac-sim-latest-release

2. Make a new directory called isaacsim_assets. This can be anywhere, but for the example we'll have it in the user's home directory.

   ''' mkdir ~/isaacsim_assets '''

3. Unzip the 3 downloaded asset packs which should still be in your downloads folder.

   ''' cd ~/Downloads unzip "[email protected]+release.19112.f59b3005.zip" -d ~/isaacsim_assets unzip "[email protected]+release.19112.f59b3005.zip" -d ~/isaacsim_assets unzip "[email protected]+release.19112.f59b3005.zip" -d ~/isaacsim_assets '''

4. Run Isaac Sim with the flag below to use the local assets. This is not persistent - probably should find a way to put this setting in a persistent way.

   ''' ./isaac-sim.sh --/persistent/isaac/asset_root/default="${HOME}/isaacsim_assets/Assets/Isaac/4.5" '''

   This will bring up the IS GUI and may require you to log in with your local credentials.

Usage Examples

Conda Set Up

See https://github.com/Field-Robotics-Lab/isaac_lab_walkthrough for additional details.

Activate conda environment

eval "$(${HOME}/miniconda3/bin/conda shell.bash hook)" 
conda activate env_isaaclab

Environmental Variable

To avoid hardcoding asset paths, we set an environmental variable to declare the local location of the asset packs

export ISAAC_ASSETS=${HOME}$/isaacsim_assets 

Install Verification Tests

List environments: This verifies the install.

python ./XRL_isaaclab/scripts/list_envs.py 

Should see a task named Template-Xrl-Isaaclab-Direct-v0

Zero Agent: Test of the training environment configuration with an agent that doesn't do anything.

export ISAAC_ASSETS=/home/bsb/isaacsim_assets 
python ./XRL_isaaclab/scripts/zero_agent.py --num_envs=10 --task=Template-Xrl-Isaaclab-Direct-v0